What Now?

Air Force officials are working to determine the full impact of the partial US government shutdown on the service’s operations. Already thousands of Air Force civilians are on a temporary furlough that began on Oct. 1. “In the immediate [timeframe],...

Vigilance in the Skies

NATO and Russia responded cooperatively to mock hijacked airliners along their shared border during Exercise Vigilant Skies 2013, a sign the two sides are building trust in areas of their security relationship. During the four-day event, which concluded on Sept....

Sequester Dampened Spirits in Fiscal 2013

The Air Force had hoped to send its B-2 stealth bombers on temporary training deployments worldwide in Fiscal 2013, but budget sequestration put the kibosh on those plans. Air Force Global Strike Command did deploy several B-2s once in Fiscal...

Outgoing US Forces Korea Commander Praises Joint Progress

Great progress has been made with regards to joint operations and information sharing with the South Korean military in the past several years, said outgoing US Forces Korea Commander Army Gen. James Thurman on Tuesday. “We’ve got good interoperability across...

Pentagon Inspector General Cites Deficiencies in F-35 Management

A newly issued report by the Pentagon’s inspector general found deficiencies in the management practices of the F-35 program office, F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin, and the Defense Contract Management Agency. These issues “could adversely affect aircraft performance, reliability, maintainability,...

Maryland Air Guard Airlift Group Inactivated

The Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th Wing in Baltimore inactivated its 135th Airlift Group as part of the changes following the wing’s loss of the C-27J flying mission. The inactivation ceremony took place on Sept. 27 at the wing’s home...

First SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch from West Coast

The Air Force’s 30th Space Wing and Space Exploration Technologies conducted the first launch of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. During the Sept. 29 mission from Vandy’s Space Launch Complex 4, the new Falcon 9 v.1.1...

Edwards Airmen Test GPS Jamming Tool on F-16

The Air Force is pushing efforts to train its pilots and crews in advanced scenarios where Global Positioning System guidance becomes denied or degraded. For Capt. David Levene, an F-15E weapon systems officer at the Air Force’s Test Pilot School...